windows 10 microsoft outlook 2013 keeps asking for password

By default, you can’t sign in using a desktop email program with just a username and password. Gmail, for example, considers traditional username/password authentication from email programs to be “ less secure“. Services with increased security can cause itĮven if your account doesn’t have two-factor enabled, it’s possible that your email provider is forcing the use of app passwords or OAUTH wherever possible. If you use two-factor authentication on your account (as you should), you may need to check with your email provider to see if it supports either of the two approaches above. That interaction can then support two-factor authentication and return a security token that Outlook can use in the future to indicate you’ve properly authenticated. For example, rather than storing your password, Outlook might have you interact directly with Google to authenticate your Gmail account.

OAUTH: This is a technology allowing the email program to hand off authorization to the service.

You use it when logging into a program or service unable to support two-factor authentication. An app password is generated for you by the email service.

App passwords: This is a password that is different from your normal password.

There are two approaches email services use if you have two-factor enabled: If you enable two-factor (or multi-factor) authentication on your email account, it’s likely that your email program has no way to provide that second factor, or even to ask you for it. One of the newer causes in recent years is the addition of two-factor authentication. Make sure it works elsewhere, and make sure you’re typing it in properly.

The bottom line is simple: most of the time, the problem is just getting the password wrong. If that fails, you likely have a different problem I’ll discuss below. Consider typing it into a program like Notepad, where you can see what you’re typing and then copy/paste it from there to be sure you’re entering what you think you are.Īnother troubleshooting step is to verify your password by logging in to your email service’s web interface. That’s often the cause - you think you’re typing in “AReallyGreatPassword” when in fact you’re typing in “arEALLYgREATpASSWORD”, which is certainly not the same thing. In my experience, this is the single most common reason your email program repeatedly asks for your password.įirst, check the CAPS LOCK key on your keyboard. No one wants to hear this, but by far the most common cause is excruciatingly simple: you entered your password incorrectly.ĭon’t scoff, and don’t assume this can’t happen to you. Just about anything causing a login to fail can result in this behavior.An account hack could mean your password is no longer valid.A transition away from traditional username/password authentication could be at play.Two-factor authentication can interfere.The most common cause is specifying an incorrect password.

Windows 10 microsoft outlook 2013 keeps asking for password